Scientific name: Samolus valerandi L.
Common name: Brookweed
Description
Habit: A hairless perennial, to 45 cm high.
Stems: Erect.
Leaves: Both alternate on the stem, short-stalked, without stipules and in a basal rosette; 1-8 cm long, undivided, untoothed, oval-oblong to spoon-shaped.
Flowers: White, actinomorphic, hermaphrodite, 2-4 mm across, in terminal and axillary racemes; sepals 5, green, fused at the base and 5-lobed, lobes broadly triangular; petals 5, fused, 5-lobed, erect; stamens 5, attached to the corolla, opposite the corolla lobes; ovary semi-inferior, 1-celled, with many ovules.
Fruits: A capsule, opening by 5 teeth at the top.
Habitat: Marshes, lake-shores, margins of turloughs, ditches, edges of salt-marshes and other damp habitats. Distribution: Frequent to occasional.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No